Civil Rights Leader Gets Larger-than-life Honor

WEST PALM BEACH — They clustered around the monument -- politicians, civil rights activists and community leaders ready to unveil a memorial that, for many of them, struck a personal chord.

The larger-than-life sculpture of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired a round of applause from almost 100 people gathered Saturday morning at Currie Park, on Flagler Drive just north of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in West Palm Beach, for the debut of a $600,000 memorial that took five years of planning.

The group joined hands and sang We Shall Overcome, echoing the civil rights leader who promoted nonviolence as a way to end oppression.

Thelma Starks, of West Palm Beach, called the sculpture "simply beautiful."

"It's a message of hope, especially for young people to see," said Starks, who was impressed to see a King statue in Israel last year. "We have seen a lot of changes, and this [memorial] tells the story that we can overcome. But we have a long way to go."

Like Starks, Edith C. Bush noticed that nearby cities had paid tribute to King. Boynton Beach and Riviera Beach named streets after the slain civil rights leader, but West Palm Beach lacked some sort of memorial.

In 1996, Bush generated support from city officials to build a sculpture on city land and became executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Coordinating/Landmark Memorial Committee.

With $300,000 from the city and county governments, Bush and the committee raised the remaining $300,000 needed for the project.

"It's a constant reminder, just like the Holocaust memorial," said Bush, 58, who marched during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. "We're teaching people what the civil rights struggle is about. Everyone who passes by here will feel motivated, uplifted and encouraged."

The sculpture, which is one of the largest honoring King in the southern United States, does not complete the memorial. By April 2002, Bush said she hopes that three-foot walls with quotations leading up to the sculpture will be complete, along with additional benches and trees.

Lelia Neal, 69, who worked on the coordinating committee, said the memorial is intended for the city, not just the black community, because King "was for all people, not just black people."

Artist Steve Dickey, who sculpted King holding a Bible, said he wanted to show how the leader used his spirituality to fight discrimination and unjust laws.

"He was able to rise above a broken system at the federal and state level," Dickey said. "He was able to begin the creation of change that we needed then. Martin Luther King was not just a great black man, but a great man."

Rico Williams, resident manager at The Lord's Place, which serves the homeless, marched with King in Bridgeport, Conn., and St. Augustine. Williams said the memorial is appropriate because of King's significance in U.S. and world history.

"I don't think we'll see that again," said Williams, referring to King's nonviolent protest and leadership. "He was a man for everyone. I would want to be more like him and accept people for who they are, no matter their ethnicity or race."

Patty Pensa can be reached at ppensa@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6609.